


Do flowers grow in Heaven?

by Chanyolo



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Fake Relationship, Flowers, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Plant Shop, Short Story, Witches, choose one and I'll make it the only ship at the end
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-11-19 11:46:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11312736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chanyolo/pseuds/Chanyolo
Summary: Byun Baekhyun was ten years old when he first discovered he was a witch.By society's unfair standards, he and others like him are forced to keep their talents under control as such powers are unrightfully recognised as a dangerous gift to have.He meets Park Chanyeol when he is twenty four.-Leave a comment saying which of the four ships is your favourite / which one you'd like to be the main focus and I'll use the most popular one as the base of the story.





	1. Crush

Byun Baekhyun was ten years old when he first discovered he was a witch. 

Despite the fairly warm weather that day, mist hung in the air, blurring the hills that sat behind the Byun residence. Below his house was the orchard; from above, one could see the peach trees spread in neat rows like spools of brightly coloured thread on the terraced land below - steps that only giants would be able to walk with comfort, Baekhyun had once fancied. The hills rolled out further than the horizon, covered in green and dotted with houses few and far between, almost untouched by humanity.

He felt as if he was far above the whole world.

Baekhyun lay in the orchard, the pink blossom thick on the peach trees, like a candyfloss cloud on a stick at the festivals and fairgrounds he only wished he could go to. Tinted petals floated down around him, landing on his hair, on his skin. Heat from the sun warmed his cheeks, and all the while, the breeze blew gently through his hair, lifting it much like the kites they used to fly at the beach.

He had been there for hours, listening to the birds chatter and the hum of insects, smelling the grasses and the earth around him, and watching lines of ants march back and forth, uninterrupted until he placed a finger in their path, disrupting their work and bringing chaos to their society. Maybe the ants thought he was their god, playing with them as if they were his to manipulate. He moved his hand back to rest on his stomach.

When the sun began to set, streaking the sky with orange and red, his mother would call him inside, and he would run barefoot through the peach trees, climbing up each step in the land leaving him with muddied, grass stained knees, as it had been and would be every day until he was older.

He turned his head to rest on the grass, idly watching a field mouse make its nest in the long grasses. Flies buzzed overhead, and every so often they would land on his skin, only to be flicked off irritatedly. Other than that, there was no other noise except from the faint calling of birds and the bark of a dog in the distance.

 

The quiet didn’t last.

Through the quiet, a screaming sounded out from above the orchard, tearing through the silence like paper. It didn’t stop as Baekhyun ran through the trees, tripping on the uneven ground, and didn’t stop as he passed the gate at the front of their house, gaining splinters in his feet from the unsanded floorboards. His footsteps slapped loudly on the wooden floorboards as he struggled to climb the stairs to the second floor.

The screaming continued as he reached his parents’ bedroom door, which he slid open fast, crashing against the timber frame as it did. His mother lay in bed, face contorted with a look of pure agony, and at her side sat his father, the wrinkles in his forehead deeper than usual. By the side of the bed stood a young woman, leaning over his mother, talking to her in a calm voice. When his father noticed him at the door, his father ushered Baekhyun fast, closing the door behind him. 

Baekhyun sat with his back against the door, staring at the clock on the opposite wall.

It was not until about an hour later that the screams of pain from his mother were replaced with a much higher pitched crying, and laughter from inside the room. Baekhyun stood up, opened the door, and stepped inside the room. His parents’ smiles were the first thing he noticed, and the second was the blood. It stained the sheets spreading through the white like a rose. Baekhyun remembered an English book he had read once (or at least looked at the pictures). There was a picture of a white rose being painted red, and that was how he saw the blood.

That was the day Byun Eunjae was born.

She was an ugly baby, with wrinkles and a mop of black hair upon her head, a sour look gracing her scrunched up face. Baekhyun instantly fell in love with the child, as she took his finger inside her fist and help on tight. 

From their joined hands, a warm golden glow spread, up their arms and towards their chests. It felt as if a feather was being run across his skin, and both him and Eunjae giggled as it happened.

Byun Baekhyun’s first talent as a witch was happiness.

 

☆*:.｡.o.｡.:*☆

 

He was lucky his parents were so accepting. They said that they didn’t see a reason why he should be in trouble for happiness, and so did not enforce a punishment upon him. Instead, they carried on about their everyday life. Baekhyun would sit with Eunjae in the orchard among the trees, and together they would watch the lines of marching ants, and sing along with the birds.

When he was twelve, Baekhyun learned how to grow plants out of nothing using his talents. His parents were not as supportive of this as they were of his happiness, because it could apparently be a threat to those around him, but didn’t punish him all the less.

At sixteen, Baekhyun had mastered growing plants among many other things, and for the first time had begun to properly focus on school rather than magic. He began to discover who he was as a person, and simultaneously, discovered that he preferred boys to girls. Upon bringing his first boyfriend home (a rather beautiful boy by the name of Kim Taehyung), his father was not accepting, and did not want to see Taehyung in the household again. His mother had appeared to support their relationship, at least it seemed so until he overheard his parents discussing it in their room when they thought he wasn’t listening.

Baekhyun ran away that night, with only the clothes on his body and his phone in his hand. He didn’t run very far, and ended up staying the night at Taehyung’s house before returning home the next day.

At the breakfast table, his father explained - after much nudging and exaggerated eyebrow gestures from his mother - that no matter who Baekhyun loved, his parents would love him more. 

That was okay, in his opinion.

By the time Eunjae began elementary school, Baekhyun was finishing his time in high school.

Time passed faster than fast, and eventually, Baekhyun ended up miles and miles from his childhood home, in a town an hours bus ride from Seoul. It was here that he met Do Kyungsoo in a coffee shop, and after spilling his coffee down the shorter man and apologising, Baekhyun ended up falling for his handsome face and handsome personality. Following one and a half dates (the second was interrupted by Kim Jongdae, who had broken a window and needed Baekhyun to pick him up from the police station for charges of property damage), they decided that they were only platonically compatible, and preferred annoying each other rather than romancing each other. 

Do Kyungsoo also happened to be the owner of a flower shop, which would turn out to be the one place that mattered the most to Byun Baekhyun.

 

☆*:.｡.o.｡.:*☆

 

Byun Baekhyun is a witch. 

He does not have a broomstick, or a black cat, or a hooked nose with warts all over it. He does, however, own a cauldron bought out of spite and teenage rebellion (and also because Jongdae seemed to think brewing beer would work pretty well if they used it).

However, Byun Baekhyun possesses talents that only zero point five of the world’s population have access to.The ninety nine point five percent of the world that is, to put it frankly, untalented, are simply referred to as humans. 

It would be much cooler, Baekhyun thinks, if there was a name for them like ‘muggles’ in Harry Potter. 

But alas, witches had never seen the need to refer to the more ‘primitive’ life form as any special moniker.

Humans seem to be more or less scared of witches, and have apparently realised that burning at the stake is not potent as it does not harm witches, so performing acts of magic now results in a prison sentence, which depending on the court in which the trials are held, can vary from fifty years to a lifetime. A special chemical had been developed in the late eighties to prevent witches from using their talent, which is being used in prisons for those with said talents. 

Baekhyun had decided to not get caught performing acts of magic on the basis that a lifetime of sloppy food and constant torture did not sound appealing.

Witches do not, therefore, practice magic in public due to the threat of the consequences and so only use their talents behind closed doors, where the general human public are not ‘at risk’. Wise decision. 

Byun Baekhyun attends a meeting every night at eleven in the evening to discuss talents and related happenings, as well as having the comfort of being among other gifted people. It’s safer than practicing magic anywhere else, as humans can actually be harmed by magic, however it is rare that other witches are injured.

There are five witches in total; Zhang Yixing, Oh Sehun, Huang Zitao, Kim Jongdae, and Baekhyun himself. 

Currently, their meeting place is in a flower shop. It is owned by Do Kyungsoo, who so happens to be a human, but appears to be okay with witchcraft, as his parents are both witches. Therefore and fortunately, he does is not easily harmed by magic Do Kyungsoo sits in on their ‘meetings’ from time to time, and Baekhyun occasionally ponders over the thought that being a human and surrounded by witches must make you feel very untalented and, in a sense, worthless. 

Baekhyun has previously confronted him about this, and in return, Kyungsoo had answered, “I would rather see other witches make mistakes and be hunted down that make mistakes and be hunted down myself.” This was then followed by a deadpan stare from the shorter of the two, and slight embarrassment on Baekhyun’s part. He had not thought about that before, and from then on had been careful not to get caught just to save himself the embarrassment and an unwanted “I told you so” from Kyungsoo.

The short (and undoubtedly slightly angry) man is to them a gift from God (the Gods? An ethereal being? Baekhyun doesn’t really know so he supposes he’ll find out when he’s dead if he actually goes to ‘Heaven’), as he lets them use the shop in exchange for Baekhyun helping maintain the plants. Tea and cake are also the group’s favourite part of the night, as each day brings a new flavour of tea and choice of cake – one day it may be jasmine tea and tangerine upside down cake, and the next, peppermint tea and Victoria sponge. 

Rather unexpectedly, Kyungsoo has woven his way into the group and has become a vital part of every evening, and a welcomed presence among all of them.

Baekhyun fancies that their meetings will not move from the flower shop, as it has become part of his life that he thinks he could probably not live without.

The actual flower shop is a quaint place, going by the inventive name, Do Flowers, and is painted white, with plants on the windowsills and white wisteria growing up over the door and past the windows of the second floor.

Inside the shop, Baekhyun and the others grow plants for Kyungsoo, and despite getting few customers, the shop is always filled with green throughout the year. 

The second floor is where Kyungsoo lives, and where the meetings are held every night. A spiral staircase leads up to it, straight into the living room (fortunately, at the bottom of the staircase, there is a sign that reads ‘NO EXIT, STAFF ONLY’), with a leather sofa pushed back against the wall, with two armchairs on either side, in a semicircle facing the TV.

The second floor lacks plants – the flowers have been replaced by fairy lights and coloured cushions. It was probably an influence of Kyungsoo’s friend Jongin, who seems more likely to enjoy colour than Kyungsoo does. Anyway, Baekhyun supposes a break from plants is probably a good thing.

Today, Baekhyun is the first one to arrive – other than Kyungsoo of course. The sign on the door reads ‘closed’, and so he opens the door. 

When he arrives, the first thing he always makes sure he does is check the plants. Today, the peonies are looking rather dead, probably due to the dense earth it is growing in (he needs to talk to Kyungsoo about his fertilizer choices – this man is supposed to know a lot about plants - he owns a flower shop for goodness sake), and the fact that the plant has to be kept small due to the fact Kyungsoo is attempting to grow it inside (mistake, but easily fixable with Baekhyun there), so he places his hands several inches away from the plant, and focuses his energy on reviving the brown tinted petals. 

Within seconds, the brown turns to pretty pink shades, and Baekhyun grins. He looks after the flowers better than the supposed ‘flower expert’ does – not that he’d ever say that to Kyungsoo’s face because the (slightly) shorter man would probably hit him. He’ll get Jongdae to say it instead.

Reaching the bottom of the staircase, he is sure to remove his shoes – Kyungsoo does not appreciate dirt on his white carpet, and prefers a cleaner environment.

As he walks up, the smell of Vanilla Chai hits him, and he smiles. He loves Vanilla Chai.

“Soo!” He yells as he walks up the stairs.

This is met with an annoyed, “What do you want?”

“Only to tell you that you let your flowers die again. You don’t make a very good fl- OW! Jesus Christ!” Baekhyun is hit on the head with a magazine and Kyungsoo appears at the top of the staircase with the usual annoyed expression on his face.

Baekhyun grins at him, and Kyungsoo lets a smile grace his features. Baekhyun thinks he’s actually pretty hot to be perfectly honest. He may or may not have had a massive crush on him at one point, but luckily that ended a couple of years ago. Still, ten out of ten would bang if he got the chance. 

“Vanilla Chai?”

“Yeah. And pound cake because I decided you guys aren’t worth anything fancy.”

“Sooooo… Is this about yesterday?”

“What do you think?” Kyungsoo deadpans, and Baekhyun giggles nervously.

Yesterday was a mistake. Baekhyun had had an accident with some of the climbing plants and they had spread all throughout the first and second floor, much like in Jumanji. Tao had started crying because Kyungsoo was yelling, and it had begun to rain indoors, leaving the room drenched. It was not one of the group’s proudest moments.

It so happened that Kyungsoo shared the property with Jongdae’s brother, Kim Minseok, who had to be called to see the damage for himself and decide how to handle the situation, as he was probably the most sensible one that the group knew in regards to giant messes that are difficult to fix

Minseok had been invited many times to join the meetings (mainly by Kyungsoo, who appreciates his extreme tidiness), but he had refused every time, as he lives by the coast with his boyfriend, Lu Han. Lu Han is, surprisingly, human, and it had appeared that human and witch relationships were becoming more common. 

The six of them had to wait in a soaking wet room for two hours for him to arrive.

After the mess was dealt with, Baekhyun had taken all of the blame (although technically the flood damage wasn’t his fault, but everyone agreed Tao needed to be protected).

Baekhyun feels slightly guilty. “How can I make it up to you, Soo?”

“If I ask you to do anything you’ll just cause more damage. Your existence is a mistake.”

Offensive, but probably true. “My feelings are slightly damaged but I’ll have to agree. At least let me work the desk? I promise nothing will go wrong. Please?”

Kyungsoo rubs his temples. “Fine. Help me pour the tea before everyone else arrives.”

Whilst pouring tea, Baekhyun dances and sings, and rather than the pissed off look he expects to receive, he is one upped by Kyungsoo, who’s voice is pretty fucking perfect and actually spectacular. He is left shocked, even though he has heard it so many times before.

The other members begin to arrive one by one.

Tao is first, looking slightly nervous, but apparently everyone has a soft spot for him, including Kyungsoo who welcomes him with a “hey,” rather than an annoyed glare.

Baekhyun scoffs. Favouritism.

Yixing is second, followed by Sehun.

Twenty minutes later, Jongdae flies into the second floor window, and falls down onto the balcony. A few seconds after, he is human again, feathers having melted off his figure, and his eyes no longer that of a crow.

They sit in a circle on the floor, each with a cup of tea in their hands. 

For five minutes, they drink their tea and do not speak.

Nothing is said until Kyungsoo helpfully decides to say, “I’m surprised none of you are in prison,” which is followed by several offended gasps.

“If Yixing was in prison it’d be for drug use,” says Jongdae. Yixing flicks him in the arm.

Jongdae lets out an overdramatic loud cry and falls to the ground. “Why me?”

“Seriously,” Kyungsoo says, frowning at the boy on the ground, “you’re all being very irresponsible lately, and I know that I don’t have your ‘talents’, but if I did, I wouldn’t be so careless.”

“Hyung, it’s hard to not use them. It’s like, ahm…” Sehun trails off.

“Like trying to get your boner to go down” Baekhyun helpfully suggests. Kyungsoo looks like he is close to slapping one of them (it will probably end up being Baekhyun).

“You all don’t understand. If you get found out, I’ll have to go to court too for associating with criminals. I don’t particularly care if any of you have to have a life sentence, especially Baekhyun and Jongdae, but I do not want to end up being a convict with you.”

Baekhyun is offended. It wouldn’t even be the same prison.

“Tao and Sehunnie wouldn’t last an hour in prison,” Jongdae points out. “Maybe we should try to stop more yesterdays happening.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it,” Tao looks like he is about to cry. “I’m sorry about yesterday I didn’t mean for that to happen.” Sehun puts an arm around him. 

“It’s not your fault, don’t worry about it,” says Yixing. “It was Baekhyun’s fault.”

“Rude.”

“Please, back to the topic at hand. You’re all irresponsible and need to buck your ideas up, okay?”

“Okay,” comes the all round reply.

Tao doesn’t cry, thankfully.

Until one in the morning, they talk about many things, including jobs, incidents with magic, and the ingredients of pound cake.

 

☆*:.｡.o.｡.:*☆

 

No customers have come in since the shop opened at nine, and it is now ten thirty. Baekhyun doesn’t mind, and finds sitting peaceful. He finds the quiet relaxing, as he is usually surrounded by the noise of the town, loud and overbearing.

Occasionally, a dog will bark in the distance, or a person will walk by, their footsteps filling up what would be silence if it weren’t for the constant faint birdsong and blowing of the electric fan. 

The morning sun sits high in the sky, a bed of pure white cloud streaking the rich blue around it. Its rays filter through the glass in the front of the shop, shining through leaves like gossamer wings, casting a green glow around the room. Baekhyun can feel the warmth of his hair against his head and his clothes against his body, sticking with sweat in the heat of the day. Every few seconds, the fan passes him, and a breeze brushes his cheeks, cooling the redness of his face, and with it, it brings the smell of wet earth and sweet honeysuckle.

In the corner of the room, a fern sits atop a grand piano, whose ivories have not been touched in years, it’s fronds curling pale green, basking in the light. Baekhyun stands, and walks on light footsteps to the piano. Sitting down, he lets his fingers brush gently over the keys, pleasantly cool to the touch.

He has not played in a while, and so at first, he makes mistakes, but soon, the music drifts from the shop out onto the street into the day. What few people walk by may stop for a second, but are content with just listening and then moving on.

As the minutes pass, he does not move from where he sits, and does not notice the tinkle of the bell on the shop door over the sound of the piano. He continues to play, and his fingers glide over the keys without him even thinking, until a tap on his shoulder gets his attention.

Baekhyun’s playing stills, and he turns around. He was expecting to be facing an angry Kyungsoo, but instead has locked eyes with a boy he has never seen before, with shockingly red hair, sticky-out elf ears (that are rather cute in his opinion), and a pink orchid in his hands.

“Erm, sorry,” he laughs awkwardly, quickly rising from his seat and walking to the counter.

The boy grins. “It’s okay. Your playing is beautiful. I was expecting Soo to greet me here with a scowl but being greeted with piano is a thousand times better than being on the receiving end of a death stare.”

Baekhyun laughs. The boy is cute. “Thanks.” He scans the barcode on the tag inside the pot. “That’ll be forty thousand won, please.”

The money is exchanged, and before the boy leaves, he turns around to speak. “Would you mind telling Kyungsoo that Chanyeol was here? He said he wanted me to stop by today, but I don’t know why. It was probably because I owe him money or something, but it could be important, so…” He trails off.

“Yes, of course,” Baekhyun replies. He can now put a name to the boy’s face, which is pretty great. Kyungsoo is out with Jongin, and probably won’t be back until the evening. He makes a mental note to talk to him when he returns. “Have a nice day.”

“Back at you, piano man,” Chanyeol once again grins, and with the tinkling of a bell, disappears into the high morning sun.

Baekhyun returns to the piano stool with his stomach in knots.

 

☆*:.｡.o.｡.:*☆

 

The sky is dark when Kyungsoo arrives back. Behind him is Jongin, who grins at Baekhyun like he hasn’t seen him in a long time. 

They saw each other yesterday.

The air is buzzing now, with the sound of insects that only wake in the once the sun has set, and Kyungsoo’s voice seems loud in the still night.

“Good day?”

“No offence Soo, but it seems unlikely that you actually care.”

“Good point. If you want to talk to someone who does, talk to Jongin. He’s nicer than I am.”

Jongin smiles. “Hyung, you care about me though, right?”

“Debatable,” says Kyungsoo, smiling.

“You had a visitor today, Soo,” Baekhyun butts in, not really wanting to listen to any more idle conversation. “Chanyeol?”

“Ah, you met him! Good,” Kyungsoo says, which sends what can only be described as a ‘lightning bolt of worry’ down Baekhyun’s spine.

“Should I be worried? I mean, he was pretty fucking hot so I probably should be.”

“Baekhyun, there’s honestly no need to worry. He works with me at the cafe, and Soo thought it would be good for him to work here, as he needs to change to a job with a higher income,” Jongin explains. 

Baekhyun prefers Jongin over Kyungsoo.

“Pray tell, Kyungsoo, why I was not informed of this? You know that we have certain aspects to working here that stop us from hiring potential workers,” Baekhyun is careful not to let slip any words that might cause Jongin to be suspicious, because although he is lovely, Baekhyun does not know how he would react to Kyungsoo holding meetings in his house for a group of criminals.

Despite said words not being slipped, Jongin looks slightly confused and scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, declares that he will see Kyungsoo tomorrow, and leaves.

It is silent for a few seconds as Baekhyun and Kyungsoo stare at eachother.

“Why would you do this without telling any of us?! And yourself - It’s not just the five of us, it’s you too. As you so kindly pointed out yesterday, you could also go to prison for associating with us. Bringing Jongin here was one thing, but now you want a total stranger to work here? What has gotten into you, Soo?”

Kyungsoo frowns. “I can explain.”

“Enlighten me,” Baekhyun puts on what he hopes is an angry scowl.

“Chanyeol isn’t a stranger. We’ve been dating for almost two months now, and I thought it would be good to give him a job here, as he was looking and the income is good. I wouldn’t just give a job to anyone, Baekhyun, do you really think I’m that stupid?” 

A knot sits in Baekhyun’s throat. “Oh, I didn’t realise. I thought you and Jongin… Ah, never mind,” he blushes.

“Me and Jongin? Ha, funny,” Kyungsoo laughs. This seems cruel considering the way Baekhyun sees Jongin look at Kyungsoo. But it’s not like Kyungsoo would know anyway.

“Just because you’re fucking him doesn’t mean I approve. I hope it’s the right decision because I’m too young and beautiful to go to prison,” Baekhyun grabs his phone from the countertop and walks out the door, only to be met by Jongin, sitting on the pavement outside, drawing patterns on the road with his finger.

“Did you hear that?” Baekhyun asks him, causing Jongin to jump slightly. When the younger turns around, Baekhyun can see the red smudges around his eyes. “Take that as a yes.”

“Baekhyun, I don’t care if you’re a witch. You’re my friend, and the last thing I want to do is see you ending up in prison, okay?”

After staring at the younger for a few seconds, he offers his hand, and pulls Jongin up off the curb. “Walk with me?”

Jongin wipes his eyes on his shirt sleeve and nods.

They walk in silence for a bit, until Jongin asks, “do you think he really finds the idea of me dating him that hilarious?”

“I don’t think so. But I do think that he sees you as a friend rather than someone he wants to be romantic with. Speaking of, it’s strange to think that Soo harbours enough human emotions to feel things such as romance,” Baekhyun smiles, and is glad to see that Jongin is smiling too.

“Maybe he isn’t human,” says Jongin.

Are you suggesting he’s a witch, Jonginnie?”

“Maybe.”

“I think he’s more of an alien, actually. He’s got to be from another planet if he wouldn’t date you.”

Jongin blushes. “Do you think everyone considers me as a friend? What if they always do? Do you think I’ll die alone?”

“Jongin, you’re too beautiful and kind to die alone, believe me. Tell you what,” Baekhyun says, still smiling. “If both of us are still single and willing in fifteen years time, let's get married.”

“Hyung, it’s unlikely that they’ll legalise same sex marriage in that amount of time. That’s a bit of a problem considering the fact that we’re you know, both men.”

“Fuck the law. We’ll go to America and get married there instead. Kim Jongin,” Baekhyun gets down on one knee where he is in the middle of the street. “Will you do me the honour of being my platonic future maybe-husband?”

“Of course,” Jongin grins, all traces of tears disappeared.

They continue to walk, hand in hand this time.

“Do you maybe want to come over for coffee?” Baekhyun asks, as he really can’t be bothered to go to tonight’s meeting especially after what had happened with Kyungsoo.

“It’s like ten Baekhyun, and I’d quite like to sleep tonight,” Jongin replies, with a look on his face similar to the one Kyungsoo seems to master with ease and skill.

“Coffee doesn’t actually mean coffee, Jongin,” Baekhyun says.

“Oh, erm, sorry… I mean, why?” Jongin’s cheeks stain with red again.

“You’re sad about Soo and probably need a rebound, and I’m sexually frustrated. Two plus two equals something fantastic.”

“Okay. I mean, is it okay if we still like hold hands and stuff?”

“Did not expect you to play the hard-to-get jealousy card but sure thing. We’d look hot together.”

“No I didn’t mean- okay yes I did but also I don’t usually just sleep with people so it’d be reassuring to know that we can hold hands and shit hand have at least fake strings attached.”

“Fake strings is fine by me,” Baekhyun grins and his grip on Jongin’s hand tightens.

 

☆*:.｡.o.｡.:*☆

 

Hazy light enters the room in streaks through the windowpanes, creating dappled effects on the white sheets. The sun heats Baekhyun's skin, just on the brink of becoming uncomfortably hot.

His eyes are almost too heavy with sleep to open, so he buried his head back in the warmth of the bedclothes. Rolling onto his side, he bumps into another person and, expecting it to be Tao (they regularly share a bed and it has become pretty normal), swings a leg over their waist. 

Said other person rolls over to face him, mumbling something about butterflies, and Baekhyun realises on opening his eyes that it's Jongin by the mop of pink hair spread on the pillow. Oh yes, now he remembers. 

Baekhyun closes his eyes once again and falls back asleep. 

The next time he wakes up, the bed’s still warm, but Jongin’s presence is missing. Sitting up, he begins to wonder if Jongin has left, but that thought is cancelled out quickly when he hears the sound of a kettle whistling from the kitchen. He stands and pads barefoot into the room wearing nothing but flannel pyjama pants, which is overdressed compared to Jongin, who is only clad in his superman boxer shorts from yesterday.

“This time of day is more appropriate for coffee, don’t you think?” Jongin asks.

“Very funny, superman. Do you want to borrow underwear? Can’t guarantee it’ll fit but it’s better than wearing the same pair for two days straight.”

“Yeah actually, that’d be good. Thank you, by the way.”

“Dude, clean underwear is nothing to thank me about. It's pretty much a must.”

“I mean for yesterday and the whole fake strings thing.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I’m pretty lonely too so it’s no big deal. I mean, lonely as in not dating - I’m not trying to offend you or anything,” Baekhyun smiles awkwardly.

Jongin laughs, and Baekhyun is slightly taken aback by how handsome he is.

“You’re really pretty,” he says without thinking.

“You too. But no falling in love Byun Baekhyun, remember? I like Kyungsoo and you’re, well…not…” He fades out.

“Kim Jongin, firstly, that is no way to speak to your hyung! Secondly, I am perfectly capable of a stable relationship! Leave me be, make some coffee and don’t distract me in trying to find you some underwear suitable for someone your age, young man.”

“You’re like two years older than me,” Jongin whines. “The only thing elderly about you is that you smell like my grandma’s handbag.”

Baekhyun hits him on the arm with an offended, “I do not!”, leaving Jongin to snicker as he goes back to making coffee.

As he looks through the draws in his bedroom for underwear (his underwear is mixed up with vests and several hundred odd socks), he can’t help but think that it’s a shame Kyungsoo is dating Chanyeol - for Jongin and himself. Chanyeol is fucking hot, as he had oh-so-cleverly spouted in front of Kyungsoo, and he would actually probably consider going on a date with him.

What a big step for Byun Baekhyun.

Jongin was right earlier - Baekhyun doesn’t usually date, as he finds is hard to stay in relationships, so rather sticks to being either friends or mutual slightly-more-than-friends-but-less-than-a-committed-relationship.

After much digging, he pulls out a pair of pink boxers, and laughs. Now Jongin’s underwear will match his hair.

Jongin is not impressed when Baekhyun shows him.

“Okay, underwear aside, what else do you plan on doing today? Are you going to talk to Kyungsoo?” Jongin asks, and Baekhyun stops, feeling his heart sink slightly. He forgot about that.

“I really don’t want to, but I really should, shouldn’t I?”

“Yeah. If you don’t it will probably be really awkward going back there.”

“Mm,” Baekhyun hums in agreement. He can’t stop going to the meetings because they’re honestly pretty important to him, not that he’ll admit it outloud. “Can you come with me? I might need emotional support.”

“Of course. I have to be at work at two though, so I’ll probably have to leave early.”

“Thanks, Jongin. Do you want to, like, hold hands?”

Jongin shakes his head. “No. Wouldn’t it seem desperate or something? After what happened yesterday?”

“Maybe.”

“Do you want your coffee now?”

“God yes. It feels like I’ve slept for a thousand years without sunlight,” Baekhyun takes the mug Jongin is offering. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

They leave an hour later holding hands once again, only to drop them as they get to the door of the shop. Baekhyun takes a deep breath and swings open the door, bell jingling.

“We’re closed toda- oh, it’s you,” Kyungsoo says as he turns from the counter to face them with an unimpressed look on his face.

“Kyungsoo, I’m sorry for what I said yesterday. I wasn’t really thinking and it wasn’t my place to say what I did,” Baekhyun says, bowing to the shorter man.

“I take it that it was Jongin’s idea to apologise?”

“Actually he said he wanted to,” Jongin lies, and Baekhyun thanks him internally. This man is a literal angel.

“Right. Well. It was wrong of me to do this without consulting you and the others first anyway. Speaking of, I take it Jongin knows..?”

“Knows what?” asks a new voice, and all three men turn to look at the origin, who is currently walking down the stairs from the second floor.

“Ah, hey Chanyeol,” says Kyungsoo. 

“Knows?” Chanyeol asks again, smiling, and the three look at each other, none of them knowing what to say. 

“Knows that I’m gay,” Baekhyun says, surprising everyone including himself with his words. He decides to just roll with it. “Like really gay. Like, super gay.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes.

Chanyeol smiles awkwardly.

“Yes we know. It’s kind of obvious, Baek,” Jongin says.

“Well then, on that note, we best be going - Jonginnie has to work. Bye, Soo,” Baekhyun says, then awkwardly acknowledges Chanyeol with a half grin.

The two turn to walk out the door, but Kyungsoo stops them. “Wait, Baekhyun. I need you to stay for a moment.”

“I’ll leave. Bye Baekhyun,” Jongin says.

“Call me?” Baekhyun asks.

“Definitely. See you later.” The bell jingles again once again on his way out.

Kyungsoo coughs and Baekhyun turns around to face him. Chanyeol stands next to him, hands in pockets, smile still on his face.

“I need to ask you a favour,” Kyungsoo says, which immediately raises Baekhyun’s suspicions.

“What?” He says slowly, unsure of the most likely horrors to come.

“I need you to help Chanyeol.”

More suspicions are raised. “With what?” Baekhyun narrows his eyes.

“Just the shop. Soo thinks I’m too irresponsible to be here by myself. It’ll only be for a few days,” Chanyeol says.

“He also thinks I’m irresponsible. You must be really bad if he thinks you need my help.”

“Harsh, but true,” Chanyeol grins, and Baekhyun swoons slightly. He has a dimple. And a boyfriend! Who is standing right next to him! God he needs to get a better taste in men.

“Is that ok? Soo can’t help me because he’s apparently busy and doesn’t like dealing with customers anyway. I don’t think he’s a people person.” At Chanyeol’s words, Kyungsoo’s mouth twitches slightly, but he remains stony faced.

“I don’t think he’s ever been a people person. Not since he rose from the depths of hell at least,” Baekhyun jokes, and Chanyeol laughs.

This time, Kyungsoo punches Baekhyun in the arm. “God I wish I could get rid of you. It is definitely a bad idea to have you two work together but I don’t trust the others with the shop. It’s the only option.”

“Aw, Soo, I love you too,” Baekhyun flutters his eyelashes, then winces as Kyungsoo raises his fist as if to punch him again. “Okay okay calm down. I’ll help. But only because I feel bad about the other day.”

“What happened the other day?” Chanyeol asks. 

Baekhyun winks. “That is for us to know, and you to find out. Maybe.” He flounces out of the shop without another look behind him. “I’ll start tomorrow. Bye bye.”

The last thing he hears before he is out of earshot is a loud “goodbye again, piano man.”

He grins.

 

☆*:.｡.o.｡.:*☆

 

“Have you met Chanyeol yet?” Baekhyun asks Jongdae as they sit at a table in the cafe where Jongin works.

“No. Kyungsoo told me about him though. Apparently he’s really tall and that annoys me more than the fact he’s going to be working there,” Jongdae laughs.

“You’re not actually that short, you know.”

“And you’re only saying that because we’re the same height and you don’t want to admit that you can’t even reach the top cupboards in your own apartment.”

“Rude,” Baekhyun says, but he is smiling.

“So, is he hot?”

“Who?”

“Who do you think? Chanyeol.”

“Oh right,” Baekhyun bites his lip. “Erm…”

“Ah so he is hot.”

“I didn’t even say he was? Why would you think I thought-”

Jongdae cuts him off. “Yes but ‘erm’ coming from you usually means ‘yes but I didn’t want to say it because he’s in a happy relationship with my friend.’ You’re not subtle.”

Baekhyun scowls into his coffee, muttering, “this hasn’t happened before, don’t make shit up.”

“Hah, good one,” Jongdae laughs, and Baekhyun redirects his glare towards the other man.

“Fine.” Baekhyun says.

“Fine,” Jongdae replies.

“Fine,” Baekhyun growls. His relationship history has not been a very good one, as everyone he likes seems to fall for Kyungsoo instead.

“Speaking of fine, have you seen Joonmyeon lately? He is fiiiiine,” Jongdae smirks.

“Jongdae, you told me you were straight,” Baekhyun says.

“Yes, I am straight, but he’s also super fucking hot. If I had to be gay for anyone it’d be him. I’m still straight though. Like really.”

Baekhyun laughs. “Sure. Keep on dreaming.”

“I am dreaming. Dreaming of…” Jongdae stills, as if waiting for inspiration to come. It does. “Dreaming of girls. And,” he grimaces slightly. “Boobs?”

“Is that a question?” Baekhyun asks.

“I’m not entirely sure. You know, maybe I’m not straight.”

“You don’t say.”

“Even my mum thinks I’m gay. Maybe I’m gay. Holy shit, Baek, I’m fucking gay,” Jongdae’s voice increases in volume and pitch while he’s talking, and the two get stares from around the cafe.

“Wow, you too? That’s how many now?” Jongin’s voice sounds from behind Baekhyun, and he turns around.

“Quite a few. I think we’ve beaten the statistics,” Baekhyun replies.

Jongin hums. “Mm, probably. I think the statistics say one person in ten people is gay, but apparently not. Ah, gotta go. It’s very lovely that Jongdae has finally figured out his sexuality despite being the last one out of all of us to realise, but I have work to do.”

“Bye again honey,” says Baekhyun.

“See you later, sugar,” replies Jongin. 

This is more fun than Baekhyun thought it was going to be. 

“You and Jongin are together?” Jongdae asks, and Baekhyun realises that nobody technically knows about their ‘relationship’ yet. “I thought he was still hung up on Kyungsoo?” 

Jongdae knew about that? Why would Jongin trust Jongdae more than Baekhyun? He was way more trustworthy.

“Uh… no. He got over that ages ago,” (lies) “and we’re dating now. Since last month.” (Lies). “We didn’t tell anyone because we weren’t sure if you’d all be okay with it.” (Lies. Most of their friends are at least ten percent homosexual anyway).

“Right. Well I did not see that one coming, but whatever floats your boat,” Jongdae sips his juice.

Baekhyun is slightly offended, on both his and Jongin’s parts. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ah nothing. It’s just I can’t see your personalities fitting together. He’s nice and kind and you’re…” Jongin pauses. “Not.”

“Fuck you. I thought we were friends.”

“See Baekhyunnie that’s what I mean.”

Baekhyun pouts. Some friend Jongdae is.

“I’m bored. Have you finished?” Jongdae asks him, pointing to his half full cup of bubble tea.

“No. It’s fine, I can drink whilst walking.”

“Cool. I want to go to Sehunnie’s house. He bought more rune stones and I want to see them.”

“Weather rune stones? Aren’t they, like, really expensive?”

Jongdae hums in agreement. “ Yeah, normally. He got them from Kris though and he usually sells thing pretty cheap.”

“Like that scroll you got with the ritual thingies on. Hah, I remember that.”

“Yeah. To outsiders it probably looked like we were performing a satanic ritual.”

“That’s basically what it is anyway.” Baekhyun laughs and stands up, bubble tea in hand. His legs are sore from sitting down for so long - they’ve been in the cafe for about forty minutes now so he’s pretty glad that they’re leaving. He shakes out his legs and gets a few looks from the people sitting at the tables near him. It’s not every day a grown man starts doing the hokey cokey in a public space.

Jongdae hits him square on the back as he makes for the door, practically pushing him out. Baekhyun is barely able to wave bye to Jongin before he is shoved into the street.

“Can we get the bus to Sehun’s? My legs feel pretty dead and I’d rather not walk,” says Baekhyun. 

“Yeah. I ate like three bowls of jajangmyeon earlier anyway and I don’t think I can walk more than fifty metres without exploding.”

“Thank god I’m not the only one suffering.” They grin at each other.

The bus stop isn’t that far away, however it is over fifty metres, and even though they are walking very slowly, Jongdae has to stop a couple of times to rest.

It’s hot outside again, much like yesterday. The sun shines through the leaves on the trees that line the road, and they light up bright green. Underneath their shoes, the pavement is sticky and melting, and as they move to sit on the bench at the bus stop, the metal burns them. Fortunately, the shade provides some relief; if not from the flies that linger there, from the pulsing heat that scorches their skin instead. 

The bus arrives, letting out a hiss as it comes to a stop. Baekhyun expects the inside of the bus to be air conditioned, but is met with a flood of warm air, somehow hotter than the air outside. They know the driver, so don’t require tickets, and are allowed to pay him directly with money. Aside from the bus driver, they are the only two on the bus. They sit at the back of the bus and play Bang Bang by Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande and Jessie J at full volume. The bus driver doesn’t seem to care.

It’s a ten minute journey to Sehun’s house on the bus, much of which is spent whining about the heat. When they arrive, the bus lets out a hiss, and they wave to the driver as they step out onto the pavement. Sehun’s house is pretty big, as he comes from a well off family. They walk up the steps to the front, and Jongdae presses the doorbell. From inside the house, they can hear ‘TT’ by Twice playing, along with a yell of, “be right there!”

They wait for about a minute before they can hear Sehun’s footsteps, along with his dog Vivi’s barking. Sehun swings open the door, and greets them with a flushed red face. “Sorry. I don’t really know how to work the runestones yet and it’s raining inside,” he laughs nervously.

“Like at Soo’s?” Baekhyun asks.

“Worse than that, hyung. I’m pretty glad I was practising in the basement or it’d flood into the street and a lot of questions would be asked.”

“That bad?” 

Sehun nods. He looks pretty dazed but that might just be his normal face. “See for yourselves.”

They follow Sehun downstairs to his basement. It is light and airy; unlike what you would expect a basement to be. His basement is normally pretty cool, and is basically a massive games room with an Xbox, PlayStation, a pool table, and table football. 

However, today, rather than going the entire way down the staircase, they stop after five stairs. The step below is covered by water, and through the murky darkness, Baekhyun can see the dark shapes of what must be a sofa and the games tables.

It is worse than Kyungsoo’s.

“Why haven't you gotten rid of it? Surely that’s the first thing you do when shit like this happens?” Jongdae crouches down and dips his hand in the water.

“They're rune stones, hyung,” Sehun whines. “I already thought about that.” 

Runestones can not be affected by normal magic, and can only be reversed by witches with specific talents. They don't know anyone with said specific talents.

“What are you gonna do then?” Standing back up, Jongdae wipes his wet hands on his shorts. They leave the material wet and slightly darkened.

“Have you called emergency services?” Baekhyun asks.

“Slight issue with that, Baekhyun-hyung.”

“Oh right,” Baekhyun giggles awkwardly. That was a stupid question to ask.

“So? What are you gonna do?” Jongdae repeats, and Sehun shrugs.

“I could… turn the basement into a swimming pool?”

“Get real, Sehunnie.”

“Well what should I do then? If it was your apartment, you’d be feeling pretty hopeless, Baek.”

“One, I'm your hyung, so do not call me ‘Baek’. Two, I would not be careless enough to use runestones without an expert helping me.”

Sehun frowns, but it may just be his normal face; Baekhyun isn't sure.

“Why don't you just call Kris? He gave you the stones in the first place,” Jongdae says, which is rather uncharacteristically helpful.

Sehun snaps his fingers and walks away, presumably to get his phone.

“It's unlike you to be strict on honorifics.” Jongdae elbows Baekhyun in the side, as if to say, ‘what's up with that?’

Baekhyun hums in agreement. “Earlier, I realised that I can assert dominance with honorifics. If put into place correctly, Jongdae, I can have power. Learn from me.”

“Unlike you, I'm not a hidden megalomaniac. Or sadist. Or whatever you are,” Jongdae pulls a face.

“Despite what you see as sadism, you still love me, right?”

“Just keep telling yourself that.”

“Hyungs,” Sehun announces as he walks back into the room.

“See doesn't it feel good?” Baekhyun whispers to Jongdae.

“Yeah I see what you mean,” Jongdae whispers back.

“Kris says he'll be over in like ten minutes.” 

“I'm assuming he knows what to do?” Jongdae asks.

“Yeah,” Sehun says. “He has the runestones to fix it.”

“Thank fuck,” Jongdae grins. “I take it he can't fix your stuff that was down there though?”

“No. It's fine though. I can get replacements.”

Baekhyun isn’t surprised. It’s not like it’s a secret that Sehun is well off.

“It’s a shame though,” says Baekhyun. “Lot of stuff you lost today.”

Sehun nods.

Not much more is said until Kris arrives.

When he does, the three of them are forced outside away from where he is using the runestones. Apparently it’s to do with safety, but Baekhyun thinks that it’s probably more because Kris gets annoyed by the three of them easily. 

By the time Kris calls them back inside, two hours have passed and Baekhyun just wants to go home.


	2. Chapter 2

Baekhyun is meeting Chanyeol again today.

He's not sure if he's excited or depressed.

It's probably a combination of both, although after the events of the previous few days, it's getting to be more on the depressed side.

Although he's mostly recovered, he is still angry at Kyungsoo about the whole Chanyeol thing, but he knows that he needs to see the other side of the argument as evenly as his own - as much as he doesn't want to. 

Talking with Jongin has helped, and as he sits behind the till, chin resting in his hands, he can't help but to think about the other. Jongin is beautiful; from his skin to his hair, and he might just be the most aesthetically pleasing person Baekhyun has ever seen. He's sweet as well, and funny, and kind. 

But Baekhyun doesn't think of him that way. Not yet, at least.

It's still hot, and the fan still steadily whirs on, not having a massive effect on the stifling heat, however it still passes a breeze over his skin once in awhile, ruffling his hair and his clothes in a comfortingly cool manner. The earth still smells wet, and it is what Baekhyun imagines being in a rainforest would be like - hot, damp, and uncomfortable.

The time is currently eight thirty in the morning, the time at which he was meant to be meeting Chanyeol here. 

Chanyeol isn't here.

He has no idea where Chanyeol is.

His fingers tap on the counter in front of him and he lets his eyes wander over the green tangles of plants that fill the room.

Five minutes pass and his eyes begin to droop, his head heavy in the heat that fuzzes his mind. Just as he is about to drift into unconsciousness, the bell on the door sounds and breaks his almost - sleep.

“Sorry I’m late. I may have slept through my alarm,” comes Chanyeol’s deep voice, and Baekhyun hums as a reply, too tired to actually say anything.

Chanyeol walks over and crouches down in front of the counter, resting his head on his arms so that his eyes are the same height as Baekhyun’s.

“Is this all you do when you're working or is there anything else to it?” He grins. 

“Recently we haven't been getting many customers,” says Baekhyun. “Most people stay inside their because it's too hot to go outside.”

“I like hot things,” replies Chanyeol. “That's why I'm here.” 

For a second, Baekhyun’s heart flutters. Maybe Chanyeol thinks he's hot.

His dreams are crushed when Chanyeol continues, “to make my beautiful hotheaded boyfriend happy.”

Baekhyun closes his eyes again. “Is that the only reason why you decided you want to work here?”

“Believe it or not, no it isn't. I do actually need more money and this happened to come about.”

“You mean Soo felt sorry for you and because you're dating him he decided to give you a job without there being an opening and having an interview first?”

Chanyeol awkwardly looks away, and Baekhyun thinks that he probably should not have said that.

“Sorry. That was harsh.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol agrees. “But it's okay. I understand.”

They make eye contact, and Baekhyun feels his heart flutter again. “I guess I should teach you how to work the cash register,” he says, finally picking his head up off the counter.

“Yeah probably. Considering I am going to be working here.”

Baekhyun smiles. “Come sit round here. It'll only take like ten minutes to explain anyway and if anyone comes in you can just shadow for today.”

For the next ten minutes, Baekhyun explains how to work the cash register whilst trying to ignore Chanyeol’s presence behind him. The taller man rests a hand on his shoulder and Baekhyun can't help but flinch. 

Oh god.

When he has finished explaining how it works, there isn't really much else to do except for showing Chanyeol how to look after the plants. Usually, he would use magic, however magic really isn't an option when the person you are with does not know you are a witch and could possibly have very strong feelings about the existence of your ‘kind’.

The problem is, he doesn't know how to explain to Chanyeol how to fare for the plants, because Baekhyun uses magic. He doesn't actually know how to care for plants the normal way - if he wasn't a witch, he doubts he'd be able to look after a cactus without it dying.

“What about the plants?” Wow, it is as if Chanyeol can read his mind.

“Uhm,” Baekhyun struggles to come up with an answer. “We can leave that to Kyungsoo. He’ll probably come in later to do it anyway.”

He moves to sit down on a clear space in the middle of the floor, and Chanyeol sits down opposite him, with his knees tucked to his chest. His legs are probably too long to be crossed whilst sitting, unlike Baekhyun’s. A blessing and a curse, Baekhyun thinks, just to make himself feel better about his short legs.

“Watering is the most important thing for most of the plants in here unless,” he points to the far corner of the room, “they're over there because those ones are native to arid climates.”

“Okay easy enough.”

Baekhyun grins. “That's not all.”

“Of course it isn't,” Chanyeol grins back.

“For most of the plants in here, if you water them too much, their roots will rot, and that's kind of a pain because they're expensive for us to buy. If you water them too little, they dry up too much so it needs to be,” he holds his fingers up in an okay symbol, “just right.”

“Osmosis,” says Chanyeol.

Baekhyun smiles again because he doesn't really know what to say. He has run out of plant knowledge.

“Is that it now?” Chanyeol asks him.

“Yeah. I'd say time to work but we probably won't get any customers today so…”

“And you're staying here with me all day?”

Baekhyun nods in agreement.

“Lucky for you I'm a joy to be with then,” says Chanyeol.

“I bet,” says Baekhyun.

It is silent for a few seconds. Baekhyun currently too hot and sweaty to be bothered about feeling awkward.

They are still sitting on the floor, and Baekhyun falls backwards to stare at the wooden boards of the ceiling. 

Chanyeol mimics him.

“Are we going to lay like this all day?”

“Maybe,” says Baekhyun.

“Do you want to paint your nails?” Asks Chanyeol. “I've been meaning to paint mine for ages but I haven't got round to it.”

Baekhyun thinks this is strange, but also fits Chanyeol’s personality surprisingly well.

“Okay. Do you have nail polish?”

“Yeah.” Chanyeol sits up, then stretches to reach his rucksack sitting by the counter. “I have five colours aside from clear.”

Baekhyun uses his hands to force himself upwards. “What colours do you have?”

“Erm…” says Chanyeol, and begins reading the names off the polish bottles. “Creamy mocha, peachy pink, orange tango, cornflower blue, and deep maroon.”

“Can I choose whichever I want?” 

“Yeah.”

“Then… peachy pink,” Baekhyun smiles.

“Nice choice, piano man. I think I'll go with deep maroon.”

“That seems very you,” says Baekhyun. 

“What's that supposed to mean?!” Chanyeol pretends to be offended.

“You look autumn-y,” replies Baekhyun. “And your hair is autumn-y too.”

“That's my favourite season,” says Chanyeol. “Summer is too hot and winter is too cold.”

“What about springtime?”

“Springtime doesn't have Halloween.”

“Hah,” says Baekhyun. “Does that mean it's your favourite holiday then?”

“Yup. What about you?”

“Christmas.”

“You enjoy getting presents or giving them?”

“Um…” Baekhyun pauses to think. “I like the atmosphere. It feels happy and I like being surrounded by happiness.”

“I can see that. You seem like a happy person.”

“I’d say I'm a happy person. It probably annoys people but it's not like I'm going to not be happy just for them.”

“Good thing I like happy people then.”

“Do you like me?”

Chanyeol looks up at him from where he is uncapping the nail polish. “From the very few conversations we have had, definitely. I think we'll get on well. Or as they say in the west, like a house on fire.”

“That's a stupid phrase. It doesn't make very much sense.”

“Houses must catch fire quickly then. Moving fast like our prospective friendship?” Chanyeol phrases it as a question.

“Sure.”

“You don't sound very convinced. You're friends with Soo and I'm much nicer than him!” 

“Soo has a certain charm that other people just don't seem to have.” Baekhyun is messing with him now.

“I have other charms you know.”

“Like what?”

“I'm a pro at painting nails.”

“Go ahead and prove it then,” Baekhyun grins, and Chanyeol beams back. Damn he's almost brighter than the sun, thinks Baekhyun, then kicks himself internally. Shut up you idiot he has a boyfriend. Stop flirting with men who are interested in other men who aren't yourself. 

 

☆*:.｡.o.｡.:*☆

 

They are still sitting on the floor, top coats finished and drying, hands spread out into painted starfish shapes.

“Do you have a sister?” Asks Baekhyun.

“No. Why?” 

“I was wondering how you're so good at this.”

“Am I not allowed to paint my nails without having a sister?”

Baekhyun feels his cheeks heat up with slight embarrassment. “Ah, no no. It's just unusual, that's all.”

“Don't worry. I'm just joking.”

“Wasn't worrying.”

“If you say so.”

The silence is thick for a few seconds.

“When we do this again-” Baekhyun starts, but is interrupted.

“When?”

“Yeah. I'm assuming we will see each other again.”

“Oh yeah.”

“So, when we do this again, will you teach me how to do nail art?”

“Do you mean like patterns and stuff?” Asks Chanyeol.

“Yeah. It's really pretty but I've never had it done before.”

“Okay. You'll have to remind me though.”

“Oh, I'm not going to forget.”

“That eager to get your nails done prettily? Why not go to a salon?”

“I prefer you to a salon.” Baekhyun says. It's a bit awkward, considering they've ‘known’ each other for under twenty four hours, and he immediately feels slightly uncomfortable with himself having said it.

“Naturally,” replies Chanyeol. “At least with you I can probably hold interesting conversation.”

“Aww, you find me interesting?”

“Hah. You probably know a lot of things about Kyungsoo that I probably don't. I find that very interesting.” Chanyeol grins, and Baekhyun can't help but feeling slightly disappointed.

It is selfish of him to be disappointed; Chanyeol isn't even his and he's jealous.

He rolls onto his front, then jumps up. Maybe he shouldn't be talking to Chanyeol like this.

“Do you know what the time is?”

“Don't you have a clock or a phone?”

“Clock broke the day before yesterday. Jongdae and Tao were playing darts and weren't very good at it.”

“Phone?”

“Don't keep it on me when I'm working.”

“What about you?”

“I left it at home this morning because I couldn't find it. My apartment’s a bit of a mess and I couldn't be bothered to look for it.”

They look at each other, and Chanyeol continues. “Doesn't Kyungsoo have a clock upstairs?”

“Oh yeah,” Baekhyun replies. “I'll be right back. I don’t really trust you by yourself - no offence but you give off a clumsy aura. We ruined the place recently and it can't happen again.”

“First of all, rude,” says Chanyeol, but grins nonetheless. “Bye bye.”

Baekhyun half runs over to the staircase and bounces up it, leaving Chanyeol on the floor. He walks into Kyungsoo’s living room and goes to check the time on the clock. 

12:37.

He bounces back down the stairs.

“It's twelve thirty seven. Did you bring lunch?”

“Uh,” Chanyeol smiles and scratches the back of his neck in what appears to be slight embarrassment.

“I'll take that as a no. You're really not very organised are you?”

“That's what Kyungsoo says.” Chanyeol stands up to become eye level (well, more than slightly above eye level but Baekhyun isn't willing to admit that) with Baekhyun.

“We’ll have to go out then. Soo won't want us taking his food and I can just lock up. It's not like we'll get any customers for the next half hour anyway.”

“Okay.”

 

☆*:.｡.o.｡.:*☆

 

May 6th, the next year

“Good morning.”

Baekhyun turns into his side, barely able to open his eyes due to the bright light that streams through the thin curtains.

He smiles, eyes still half closed. “Good morning.”

“Do you remember what today is?”

“Sunday?” Baekhyun replies.

“Your birthday?” 

Oh yeah. Baekhyun opens his eyes to look into Jongin’s. The other’s hair is stuck up at funny angles and he has creases on his face from the sheets, yet he still manages to look surreally angelic.

“Oh,” Baekhyun mumbles.

“Happy birthday, Baekhyunnie. You're so big now,” Jongin smiles, and his eyes crease.

“I feel old,” says Baekhyun, his voice still croaky from sleep.

“You don't look old,” replies Jongin, and kisses the side of his mouth.

“Ew gross my mouth tastes like Satan’s fiery asshole actually stop,” Baekhyun groans and sits up. “Let’s eat, shower, brush teeth, and then go back to bed.”

“Mm. Okay.”

Baekhyun stands up, stretching. He can feel Jongin’s eyes linger on his back, on his shoulders, and on the tattoo of a singular music note that resides in the curvature of his spine. The only thing he is wearing are his grey sweat pants. He can't be bothered to feel self conscious.

“You're pretty,” he says, then stands up and wraps his arms around Baekhyun’s waist. His hands are massive compared to Baekhyun’s own.

“Thank you,” whispers Baekhyun.

“You're meant to tell me I'm prettier,” mumbles Jongin into his ear.

“It's my birthday. You're supposed to compliment me, not the other way around.”

Jongin spins Baekhyun around so their noses are almost touching and their mouths are barely a centimetre apart. “I’ll do whatever you want me to do,” he says, and bites down on Baekhyun’s lip.

“Oh my god stop,” says Baekhyun, pulling away. “We both taste like dead animals at the moment, so can you wait a bit? Please?”

Jongin pouts. “Fine.”

“Can you cook for me?”

“What do you want?”

“Oreo o’s,” says Baekhyun.

“Okay… sure you don't want anything fancier?” Asks Jongin.

“I'm sure. Make me breakfast, chef-man,” he laughs.

“Chef man isn't a very appropriate term for someone who's making cereal,” says Jongin, and walks to the cereal cupboard to take out a box. Baekhyun’s kitchen is also a dining room and a sitting room, so they can see each other constantly if they really wished to. Jongin grins at him from across the breakfast bar.

Baekhyun sits down at one of the chairs at the table, entertaining himself by folding a cotton napkin into an origami lotus shape. 

“Why do you still make those?” 

“They entertain me,” says Baekhyun. “I should learn more.” He watches as Jongin takes out a bowl and tips cereal into it. “You're not eating?”

“No. I ate loads yesterday and my stomach is bloated.” Jongin pulls up his vest and shows his stomach. It is flat and definitely not bloated.

“Liar,” he smiles. “Do you think there are origami classes near us?”

“Uh,” Jongin pours milk into Baekhyun’s bowl. “Probably. But Kyungsoo-hyung has a gift for origami so you can probably ask him.” He walks over and places the bowl in front of Baekhyun. “Do you want to go anywhere today? Like to see Kyungsoo-hyung and Chanyeollie-hyung?”

“Maybe later. I kind of want to just shower and go back to bed.”

Baekhyun pauses to eat a spoonful of cereal.

“I'm really tired.”

Jongin laughs. “You woke up at ten thirty today, Baekhyun.”

“Went to bed late, though. The meetings aren't exactly short, are they?”

Recently, the amount of meetings a week had been narrowed down to one (every Saturday), as Kyungsoo was getting tired of them keeping him up all night. Jongin had also started coming to the meetings, as him and Baekhyun were now an inseparable force to be reckoned with.

“Okay fine. But you can't sleep all day.”

“Wasn't planning on sleeping.”

Jongin smiles. 

Baekhyun continues to eat his cereal.

Jongin watches him.

When he finishes, Jongin takes his bowl and puts it in the dishwasher. “Shower?”

“Teeth first,” says Baekhyun.

They stand side by side in the bathroom, brushing their teeth. Baekhyun’s toothbrush is blue and Jongin’s is pink. Two minutes pass, and afterwards, they rinse the brushes and put them back in the holder. Jongin peels off his vest, followed by his boxers, revealing perfectly tan skin with a suspicious lack of tan lines. He is beautiful.

Baekhyun pulls off his sweat pants, and Jongin takes him by the hand, then drags him into the shower. 

He presses the power button on the shower, and cold water comes out. Baekhyun feels slightly like a wet dog.

“Please make it warmer,” says Baekhyun, teeth chattering.

“Ssh, don't rush it.” Jongin turns the heat up. The temperature fluctuates, and Baekhyun hops around as the water switches from freezing to scolding, then back to freezing in mere seconds.

“Jesus, Jongin!”

“Sorry, sorry.”

The changing temperature settles, and Baekhyun closes his eyes. It feels nice.

Jongin’s hands slide down his back and over his hips, and he smiles. “Can you wash my hair please?”

“Okay.”

Jongin picks up the bottle of shampoo, uncaps it, and, pouring some into his palm, begins to massage it into Baekhyun’s scalp. “Smells nice,” he comments. 

Baekhyun hums in agreement.

Soap flows down the curvature of his spine, and he watches the bubbles fall into the drain in a swirling motion. Although he feels content, he can’t help but to sense a slight waver of contradiction in his own emotions - there is a flicker of incredulity at the satisfied feeling that sits so comfortably in the pit of his stomach. He isn’t sure why; spending the past year with Jongin has been more than okay. He thinks he’s happy, but now he isn’t so sure. 

Maybe it’s because Jongin is still in love with Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun has been sidelined yet again.

He sighs, and focuses on Jongin’s hands in his hair, then turns around to face the taller man. Jongin smiles at him, running his hands down Baekhyun’s sides. Their foreheads are touching, and his eyes are so close, Baekhyun could count his eyelashes if he wanted.

“Did you get me a birthday present?” he asks. “I’ll be sad if you didn’t.”

“Can you not just accept me as your birthday present?” mumbles Jongin, smiling into Baekhyun’s mouth.

Baekhyun pulls away. “No. You better be joking, Jonginnie,” he frowns.

“Of course I got you something,” says Jongin, pulling Baekhyun closer again, so that their torsos are touching. “I’ll give it to you later.”

“Okay,” says Baekhyun, and moves in to bite Jongin’s lip, pulling the skin.

Jongin’s face scrunches up. “Ow, Baekhyunnie. That hurt.”

“I’ll kiss it better,” says Baekhyun, and pushes his mouth onto Jongin’s. He moves his hands up Jongin’s back so that one rests on the nape of his neck, and the other pulls on his hair. It’s dark brown now, and although Baekhyun misses his pink hair, he likes it this way more. Their teeth clash slightly as they kiss, and Jongin pulls away to kiss along his jawline and down his neck. Baekhyun is pressed against the wall of the shower, and the cold hardness of the tiles makes him shiver.

“You’ve got goosebumps,” murmurs Jongin into his neck, then bites down, so much so that Baekhyun is afraid the skin might break and bleed.

“I’m aware of that,” he replies, and tips his head back. Jongin licks his collarbone.

“Gross! Are you a dog or something?” he asks. 

“You taste nice,” says Jongin, sliding his thigh in between Baekhyun’s. Their crotches push together, and Baekhyun sighs. He lets Jongin roll his hips against his own, and revels in the attention he is getting. 

His legs wobble a little bit, and his knees fail to hold him up. Jongin hauls him so that he his sitting on his hips, legs wrapped around Jongin’s waist, hands holding on to his neck. Jongin’s hands hold his ass so as to make sure Baekhyun doesn't fall, and his fingers dig in. He’ll probably have hand print bruises tomorrow, not that that matters much to him at this current moment in time. They kiss again, and Baekhyun moans into Jongin’s mouth.

“I think I have a hand kink,” he says, voice worn out. 

“That’s weird,” says Jongin. “I was thinking the same thing about myself.” He removes one of his hands from Baekhyun’s thighs, and laces his fingers with Baekhyun’s. Baekhyun tightens his legs around Jongin’s waist so that he doesn’t fall. Baekhyun is definitely hard now, and Jongin seems to have realised, as he rolls his hips against the smaller man’s. 

“Your hands are really pretty,” he says, moving his fingers gently over Baekhyun’s. 

“Thank you,” replies Baekhyun, closing his eyes, and letting his head loll backwards. Jongin uses this as an opportunity to suck on the skin in between his collar bones, creating a reddish purple bruise that won't go away for the next few days.

“Do you want to go back to bed?” Jongin asks, and Baekhyun whimpers, barely able to speak.

“Yes,” whispers Baekhyun.

The water is turned off, and Jongin carries Baekhyun to his bed, still sitting on his hips.

They are both still wet, and the sheets turn damp underneath where Jongin lays. Baekhyun sits atop him, and smiles despite his discomfort due to the cold air. He runs his hands over the plane of Jongin’s abdomen, and rubs his thumbs into the vline of his hips. Jongin smirks, pulls Baekhyun down so that their crotches touch, and flips him over, pinning him to the bed. One of his hands keeps Baekhyun’s still above his head, and his thighs keep Baekhyun’s own locked together.

“You’re really beautiful,” he says, and allows his fingertips to trace the lines of Baekhyun’s chest and ribcage.

“So you’ve told me,” replies Baekhyun, almost crying out as Jongin’s hand wanders up to pull on one of his nipples, twisting, causing the contrasting pleasure pain that Baekhyun can't help but to moan due to.

“Ahh, my god, don’t stop,” he closes his eyes, and allows Jongin to kiss down his torso and towards his thighs, hands still wandering about his chest. Jongin bites down on the skin of his thighs, and sucks hard, leaving a red mark. His skin is left littered with bruises that by tomorrow will be purple and blue.

Baekhyun feels almost content as Jongin places marks all over his thighs, chest, and stomach, but can’t help the sinking feeling that resides in his throat like a parasite he can’t shake himself free from.

He shakes his head to free himself of this lingering thought, and rolls his hips upwards as Jongin moves down upon his crotch.

“Jongin,” he says through a gasp as he struggles to breathe.

Jongin hums in acknowledgement. “Yeah?” He looks up into Baekhyun’s eyes.

Baekhyun forces himself to sit up and moves his hands to grip on Jongin’s shoulders.

The confusion on Jongin’s face is obvious, yet he stops, and moves away. “What’s the matter? Do you want me to stop?”

Baekhyun scrunches up his nose. “No,” He pauses, then, “Just fuck me.”

“Okay,” Jongin complies, and leans over Baekhyun to reach the bottle of lube sitting on the dresser. 

“Condom?” Jongin asks.

“No,” answers Baekhyun.

Jongin uncaps the lube, and pours some into his hand, then rubs it between his fingers to warm it up. Baekhyun watches in fascination as Jongin coats his hand in the stuff. And slides a finger into him. It hurts, but Baekhyun still rocks forwards onto it. Jongin smiles and bites Baekhyun’s lip.

“Slow down. We have time.”

 

☆*:.｡.o.｡.:*☆

 

Baekhyun turns his head to read the time on the clock that sits on the dresser next to his side of the bed. 13:02. His lower half is still sticky, and he runs his hand through the still wet mess on his stomach. 

Jongin lays asleep next to him, hair spread out on the pillow, one hand gripping Baekhyun’s thigh. Baekhyun bites his lip, and tips his head backwards to stare up at the white ceiling. Slowly, he moves his hand downwards, and after feeling around his entrance, slides a sticky finger inside himself. He hums at the strange burning sensation; it’s weird but nice. With his other hand, he slides his thumb over the head of his dick, and sighs slightly, not wanting to wake Jongin. 

He lets his fingers trace over the veins on his dick, whilst using his other hand to fuck into himself. His hips jerk sporadically upwards, and he tips his head back in pleasure.

It feels good. 

Curling his finger to massage himself, he uses the sticky mess from before to slide two more fingers in, moaning at the stretch. It’s disgusting, but he can’t help but to enjoy it. His hand moves up and down on his dick, and he let's out an almost scream, then quickly turns his head to bite down on the sheet he is laying on, so as to not make a sound. It doesn’t feel as good as Jongin did, and yet he still feels like he’s about to burst.

Moaning as quietly as possible, he thrusts his fingers further inside himself, and sets up a rhythmic pace to match the rolling of his hips.

The heat builds up inside his abdomen and he feels it pooling in his lower stomach. Ecstasy bubbles up inside his veins, and he groans loudly. His fingers hit a spot deep inside him, and he is brought to the edge. 

He finger fucks himself through his orgasm, then comes down slowly, biting on his lip as he comes, making sure he doesn’t scream.

Afterwards, he lays still, feeling slightly disgusting. He is still for about a minute, then sits up and walks to the bathroom to wash himself for the second time that day.

Jongin is still asleep, and he doesn’t want to wake him, so writes a note.

Jonginnie,

I’ve gone to see Chanyeol and will probably be back by evening so you can give me your present then. If I steal Chanyeollie then you can talk to Soo as much as you want and seduce him with your manly charms to your heart’s content ;)

Rooting for you, baby boy :)

Baekhyun ❤

He leaves the note on his pillow, and after pulling on jeans and a t-shirt, slips out the front door with only keys and phone in hand.

Before he leaves the building, he places a charm on the door to stop any unwanted visitors entering (namely, Sehun. Last time Baekhyun left Jongin alone, Sehun tried to get him so sign up for couples’ intimate yoga classes) - even though Jongin is tall and pretty well built, Baekhyun still feels the strange need to protect him.

Baekhyun walks down the pavement, now feeling all but content. Something is wrong, but he can’t figure out what it is. Everything is ‘okay’; he’s twenty five, has a stable job, stable friends, a stable half-relationship, and he still hasn’t gone to prison. 

It’s all okay.

At least, that’s what he thinks.

He doesn’t bother to knock on the door of the shop, instead choosing to walk straight in. 

“Baekhyun!” Baekhyun looks up to where Chanyeol is sitting behind the counter. “I was wondering when you’d show up,” he grins.

“Did you think I wasn’t going to come?” he replies.

“No. I knew you’d come to see me. I’m your favourite person. It was just a matter of when.”

“What if I was here to see Kyungsoo and not you?”

Chanyeol laughs, and is met with an irritated cough.

“Should I feel offended?” Kyungsoo appears at the top of the staircase.

“No,” says Baekhyun. “I like you. Chanyeol might not but I like you a lot.”

“Is that a confession?” asks Kyungsoo, and begins to walk down the stairs.

“Yah, slow down Baekhyunnie. That’s my boyfriend not yours.”

Baekhyun grins. “Sorry.” He coughs. “Anyway, Kyungsoo, I was wondering if I could steal Chanyeol for the afternoon? Quality best friend bonding time, you know?”

“No. Meeting up with Jongin anyway.”

“Thank you,” he smiles, and pulls Kyungsoo’s cheek.

Kyungsoo glares at him and he lets out a squeaked, “sorry!”

“Me and Jongin got you a joint present this year,” says Kyungsoo. “Did he tell you?”

“Ah no, he failed to mention that,” says Baekhyun with an awkward half smile. Damn that means one less present.

“Is that okay?”

“Yeah.” 

No.

“I got you a present by myself,” says Chanyeol.

“Is this a competition?” asks Kyungsoo.

“Yep. To win my affections.” Baekhyun winks.

“Right we’re leaving before you actually steal my boyfriend,” says Chanyeol, and drags Baekhyun by the arm out of the shop.

They step outside into the sunlight, and Chanyeol’s hand slips down his arm to hold onto his hand. Baekhyun doesn’t pull away as their fingers interlock.

“Where do you want to go?” Chanyeol asks him.

“Haven’t you thought about where you want to take me?” 

“Well I want to go to McDonalds but I assumed you would probably want to go somewhere else.”

“Can we go to the beach?” Asks Baekhyun, even though he knows he is pushing his luck. They won't get back before nighttime.

“That would take like two hours on the train,” says Chanyeol. “And we don't have very much time left of the day.”

“I don't mind. We can get back late.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” Chanyeol asks.

Baekhyun nods his head up and down very fast. He hasn't been to the sea in ages and he'd do anything to be there again.

Chanyeol sighs, exasperated. “Fine. We won't get back until like two in the morning though, if you want to stay for more than an hour.”

“That's okay. We can sleep on the train.”

“Okay. I hope you appreciate the things I do for you.”

“Of course I do,” Baekhyun links his arm around Chanyeol’s.

The train station isn't far, but the beach is. They sit for two hours, watching the countryside pass by in flashes of green, and occasionally the train will come to a stop, and people will come and go. They share earphones, and Jessi is played on repeat. Strangely enough, Baekhyun doesn't get bored of it.

When the train stops at the final station, the sun already hangs low in the sky, and their shadows are beginning to stretch out across the ground as if they are being tugged by some supernatural force.

They head away from the busy urbanisation of the town, and walk towards the sea front. The sea is barely visible beyond the line of trees and tangles of plants that lay in a strip before it, and they have the to walk down a narrow path to reach the beach. It's not an ‘official’ path; it has clearly just been trodden down by people that didn't want to go to the more popular beaches and had to find a quieter place to go during the summer. Several times, Baekhyun trips on roots that stick uncomfortably out of the mud, and he is caught by Chanyeol.

When the eventually reach the comforting flatness of the sand, they walk towards the sea and sit down a few metres from the swell of the water. Baekhyun takes off his shoes and stretches out his legs, letting the water touch the tips of his toes. He lays down, and Chanyeol follows suit.

Other than themselves, the beach is deserted, and Baekhyun reaches out to touch Chanyeol’s hand.

They turn their heads to look at each other.

“This is what you wanted right?” Asks Chanyeol.

“Yes.”

Chanyeol hums and turns his head back so he faces towards the sky. Bits of sand are stuck to his skin, and he doesn't wipe them away. Baekhyun watches his dark eyes flicker as they watch the clouds moving and changing colour as the sun slowly sinks lower and lower. There is a pink tint in the horizon now, above the line of the sea. Chanyeol’s face is bathed in a golden glow that lights up his cheeks, and Baekhyun wants to reach out and touch his skin, yet he refrains, wisely so.

“The sky is pretty,” says Chanyeol, and Baekhyun hums in agreement. “Sometimes I wish I could be there instead of here, floating in the clouds.” A blush graces his cheeks.

“You'd rather be away from me?” Asks Baekhyun. He's slightly offended.

“No, that's not what I meant,” he sighs hard, and his face scrunches up as if he is searching for an explanation. “I just think that there is so much on earth and in this world that drags us down, and it would be easier to be floating above it all.”

“Is something bothering you at the moment?”

“I'm not going to lie to you, so yes,” Chanyeol sighs again and turns to face Baekhyun. They stare at each other, and neither says a word for a good twenty seconds.

“Do you want to tell me what it is?”

“I don't know.”

“How can you not know? If something bothers you that much then surely you want to get it off your chest and talk to someone ab-” Chanyeol cuts him off.

“It's hard, okay?” His eyebrows furrow. “I've been thinking a lot and I don't know if I’m going to make the right decision.”

Baekhyun wipes the sand off his cheeks. Chanyeol doesn't flinch.

“Ah, sorry. It's your birthday and I'm acting like a child. I'll shut up, don't worry,” Chanyeol looks towards the sky again. Orange has begun to streak the blue, and a golden glow has lit up the sea.

“It's okay.”

There is silence again, and Baekhyun turns to stare at the sky. The water is cold against his feet, and the sand is wet beneath him. He should be uncomfortable, and yet, strangely, he is more comfortable than he has been in a long time.

“Are you and Jongin dating?” Chanyeol breaks the silence.

Baekhyun isn't really surprised by the question. “No.”

Chanyeol nods. “Okay.”

“Why?”

“Just wondering. You're very close for two people who aren't dating.”

“I like Jongin a lot.”

“Would you date him? Theoretically?”

“Theoretically? No.”

“Okay.” Chanyeol doesn't say anything else.

Baekhyun listens to the noise the sea makes as it swells over the pebbles and breaks white horses upon the shore. It is calming, and he closes his eyes. If the tide was not coming in, he could go to sleep.

Chanyeol’s hand finds his again. 

“With this amount of hand holding, I think your relationship with Kyungsoo might be on the line,” says Baekhyun, then regrets it as Chanyeol moves his hand away.

“Sorry.”

Baekhyun laughs. “It's not me you need to apologise to.”

“Sorry.”

“Chanyeol,” says Baekhyun. He has a feeling he is going to say some things he will later regret, but chooses to carry on speaking anyway. “Something's wrong.”

“Bit vague.”

“Yes, I have realised that. The problem is, I don't know what's wrong and yet it's sitting in my throat and the pit of my stomach and it won't go away.”

“Any reasons why?”

“I don't know.”

“Is it because of Jongin?”

“I don't know.”

I guess then we are both a bit off at the moment,” Chanyeol smiles. “I know what you mean.”

“Are you unhappy with Kyungsoo?” Baekhyun says, quietly. It's not like anyone is there to hear, and yet he still feels the need to speak in hushed tones.

“I don't know,” Chanyeol whispers back.

Baekhyun’s breath catches in his throat, and for a second, his heart jumps. He thinks for a second that maybe, just maybe, for the first time, he could the one that someone else is-

He is getting ahead of himself.

“I can't put a finger on what's wrong and it's starting to hurt,” says Chanyeol, and the grip Chanyeol’s words have on his heart begins to tighten. “At first I thought it was just in passing, you know? But I feel so,” he pauses to sigh, “restless.”

“You’ll figure it out,” says Baekhyun. “You always do.”

“I don't really trust myself in any big decision making at the moment,” Chanyeol laughs, but his voice shakes slightly, and he clears his throat.

“At the moment, I probably need to make a big decision. My life has come to a standstill.”

“The only thing that has changed for me in the past year is you,” says Chanyeol, and Baekhyun’s whole body stops for a second. 

“What do you mean?”

“At the moment, you matter the most to me. And a year ago, I didn't even know you.”

“You matter the most to me too.” Baekhyun can't really comprehend what Chanyeol has just said. He is more important to Chanyeol than anyone else in his life. At least, that's what Chanyeol has implied.

“I'm glad.” Chanyeol sits up, and Baekhyun follows suit. 

Neither are wearing their shoes, and they did their toes into the damp sand. Their shadows are stretched out behind them now, and the sun has sunk lower in the horizon; a sliver has started to slip below the line of the sea.

Chanyeol turns towards Baekhyun, and they stare at each other for a second. Baekhyun looks at his skin, at his hair, at his eyelashes, and at his everything. 

“I-” he starts, but Chanyeol interrupts him.

“Don't say anything,” he says, putting emphasis on the ‘don’t’. 

Baekhyun nods, and lays down again. Chanyeol doesn't follow suit, instead moving to place his hands on top of Baekhyun’s, and his body over the shorter’s.

Baekhyun still doesn't say anything, but his breathing quickens again as Chanyeol tips his head down to rest on his shoulder. He realises the taller is crying when a wet patch appears in the sleeve of his t-shirt.

“I don't know what to do,” Chanyeol’s voice shakes as he grips onto Baekhyun’s hand, their fingers interlaced. “I thought I was in love with him but now I don't know, and you're here and I'm so,” he pauses as his voice wavers with the sound of tears, “so confused.”

Baekhyun rubs his thumb over the top of Chanyeol's hand, and tries to ignore where a stone is digging into his back. De-tangling their fingers, Baekhyun brings his hand up to touch Chanyeol’s face. His cheeks are wet with tears, and his eyes are rimmed with red that is too imperfect to be make up. 

“And now,” he looks at Baekhyun, and his eyes are so close, Baekhyun swears he could count his eyelashes, “I think I'm in love with you.”

The sun freezes in the sky, unmoving, and the clouds are static. The sea doesn't make a sound, and the waves don't crash over one another like before. Baekhyun’s body is numb, and he can't feel the breeze from the sea, or the heat from Chanyeol’s body above his.

His voice shakes as he answers, “are you sure?”

Chanyeol laughs slightly hysterically. “Yes. Oh my god, yes, and now I said that I regret it Jesus Christ I am so far down shit creek.”

Baekhyun smiles. “Me too.”

“You don't seem very concerned,” says Chanyeol, still able to joke despite his wet, blotched cheeks.

“Because I'm not,” says Baekhyun. 

“Good to know.”

“Some people say I make others happy just by being around them. If you aren't happy then it means my purpose on this earth isn't fulfilled.”

“Your purpose on earth is to make me happy?” Chanyeol smiles. “Then my purpose on earth is to do the same for you.”

“Good to know,” whispers Baekhyun.

One of Chanyeol's tears rolls down his cheek and onto his lip. Baekhyun licks it.

“Ergh you're gross,” says Chanyeol.

“Kiss me,” says Baekhyun, and Chanyeol does. He tastes like the salt of the sea, and into his lips, Baekhyun mumbles I love you over and over again until the sea reaches his the hem of his jeans, and they jump up to avoid the cold water, smiles upon faces, hands tangled.

“What's my birthday present?” Asks Baekhyun.

“You're ruining the moment,” complains Chanyeol.

“You promised me a present,” Baekhyun tugs on Chanyeol’s sleeve, and the taller gives in.

“Okay, wait a second,” he reaches into the pocket of his jeans, and brings out a small black velvet box.

“You're not proposing, are you?” Baekhyun worries. “I don't think I'm ready to be a husband.”

Chanyeol scrunches up his nose. “No.” He places the box in the palm of Baekhyun’s hand. “Open it.”

Baekhyun does, and inside sits a pair of earrings. They are tiny silver flowers, and look expensive. “Orchids,” Baekhyun whispers.

Chanyeol hums in agreement. 

“When I first saw you, you came into the shop and bought an orchid,” he breathes. “They're beautiful.”

“I still have it,” says Chanyeol. “I called it Baekhyun”

“Sappy,” says Baekhyun. “I feel honoured.”

On the train back, Baekhyun leans his head on Chanyeol’s shoulder and can't help but to feel guilt.

When they get back into town, it is dark, and Chanyeol kisses him under the light of a street lamp. Baekhyun stumbles into his apartment with the taste of the sea in on his tongue and the words I’m in love with you running through his head. 

He falls down on the bed next to Jongin, who lays asleep, looking as angelic as he did this morning. 

When he pokes Jongin’s cheek the younger mumbles an incomprehensible answer, and moves closer to him. 

“Jonginnie,” he sing whispers. “Give me my present in the morning.”

“‘Kay,” murmurs Jongin, who is apparently awake enough to understand Baekhyun’s need for gifts.

He pulls off his clothes laying down, and kicks them off the bed. Brushing his teeth seems like too much effort, and he doesn't want to get rid of the taste of Chanyeol.

Baekhyun falls asleep thinking of sunsets and sandy kisses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to leave kudos, and a comment saying which ship you'd prefer this to end with...   
> my writing got really sloppy towards the end so I apologise for that ( also sorry about any writing errors this is all un-beta'd so if anyone wants to volunteer to beta this then hmu ok

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, remember to leave kudos if you liked it, and leave a comment saying which ship is your favourite :)


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